STONY PLAIN - The man who sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl west of Edmonton could get 10 years behind bars.

The Crown and defence made the joint submission at the sentencing hearing for James Clifford Paul, who pleaded guilty last November to attacking the girl on the Paul Band First Nation on Dec. 20, 2014.

In her victim impact statement, the girl’s grandmother said she is still traumatized by what happened to her granddaughter.

“I find it hard to smile and laugh anymore,” the statement read. “I feel like I don’t deserve happiness anymore.”

The grandmother said she blamed herself for what happened, because the victim was staying at her home at the time of the assault.

The girl had gone sledding with some friends and young adults, and in the afternoon was seen walking with Paul to Willow Point’s store, which is located nearby on the reserve.

Friends of the victim — a 13-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy — were returning from the store when they found the victim’s body in the bushes covered in blood.

Paul was arrested that same day by RCMP, and confessed to sexually assaulting the girl and punching her in the face repeatedly.

In a statement read by defence lawyer Arnold Piragoff, Paul expressed remorse for the attack: “I pray for the victim, the little girl, and her family every day.”

Piragoff said Paul committed these offences because he had been drinking, and was using crystal meth.

“It’s not an excuse, but it is an explanation as to why he did what he did,” Piragoff said. “Had he been sober, these offences would not have occurred.”

However, Judge Charles Gardner found this explanation somewhat lacking.

“I struggle with the nature of this offence, notwithstanding his background and the difficulties Mr. Paul had growing up,” Gardner said. “I struggle with (how he) got to the heinousness of this offence on a young child.”

The victim is now in a specialized foster home and will need extensive care for the remainder of her life.

Paul has already spent more than one year at the Edmonton Remand Centre, and Piragoff requested that he serve the remainder of his time at the Bowden Institution.

He said that Paul needs additional security because of the nature of his crimes.

Piragoff quoted a caseworker who said that, “at the Edmonton Remand Centre, inmates were making weapons with (Paul’s) name on it.”

Paul’s family has also had to leave the reserve on which they lived, because of the backlash from the community.

“There are lasting effects that will be carried by the victim and her family for the rest of their lives,” Piragoff said. “But there is another family involved here.”

Gardner adjourned his decision until April 18.

As Advertised in the Edmonton SUN

Man who sexually assaulted girl on Paul Band First Nation faces 10 years behind bars

STONY PLAIN - The man who sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl west of Edmonton could get 10 years behind bars.

The Crown and defence made the joint submission at the sentencing hearing for James Clifford Paul, who pleaded guilty last November to attacking the girl on the Paul Band First Nation on Dec. 20, 2014.

In her victim impact statement, the girl’s grandmother said she is still traumatized by what happened to her grandmother.

“I find it hard to smile and laugh anymore,” the statement read. “I feel like I don’t deserve happiness anymore.”

The grandmother said she blamed herself for what happened, because the victim was staying at her home at the time of the assault.

The girl had gone sledding with some friends and young adults, and in the afternoon was seen walking with Paul to Willow Point’s store, which is located nearby on the reserve.

Friends of the victim — a 13-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy — were returning from the store w